All Spread out and ready to go....

Okay.... I have spread my wings!

Here is my new Cooking Blog......

My need for More Cooking Space....

I have been thinking more and more about the movie "Julie & Julia" and I was chatting online with some of my friends and they were telling me about this great website ....Barefoot Bloggers , where a bunch of people have grouped together to cook with the Barefoot Contessa from the food network .... Great fun!

While I was there I was introduced to another great food site called Foodbuzz.com. I joined both!!!!

And now I have come to understand that I need a blog for just my food passion....

Don't we need a blog for everything....?????????

"Back to School" - For Personal Enrichment!

Good Morning Ladies....

I am off to take Hubby to work and then shopping for the menu items on tonight's dinner for our "Back to School" night for our Personal Enrichment (Homemaking) activity at the church. They asked me to be in charge of the food and to teach the mini-lesson on nutritious Lunches for kids and family. In putting my thought together for all of this, I thought it would be fun to take fun and regular sandwiches that we make for our kids and gourmet them up a bit...

SO, the menu includes three different sandwiches made with those new little round flat sandwich bread from Arnold's Bakery (you can by them at Sam's Club and Walmart):

" Mozzarella Chicken Caprese"
*Bread
*Lettuce
*Tomato
*Mozz Cheese slice
*Fresh Basil
*grilled chicken
*mayo & olive oil

"Twisted Club"
*Bread
*Ham
*Cheddar Cheese slice
*Apple
*Bacon
*Lettuce
*Mayo

"Chicken Harvest"
*Bread
*Chicken Salad
*cucumber
*dried cranberries
*sprouts
*lettuce

We are serving them on small plates in a brown paper bags, so I thought it would be fun to just have fresh fruit as the side dish, so there will be a wedge of watermelon, thin slice of cantaloupe and a small bunch of grapes or kiwi. Also for dessert, we are serving gourmet S'mores and Ice Cream. The Gourmet S'mores are really easy and fun too.

All you do for them is make a chocolate cheese ball, spread small amount on a quarter of a graham cracker, top with three or four mini marshmallows or a smear of marshmallow fluff , place the other graham cracker quarter on top of the marshmallow and give it a light squeeze. Serve as a quick snack or with Ice Cream.

Since these are a my own recipes and I have never made any of them yet, you will all have to wait until tomorrow for pictures... I am sharing because they all sounded like JUST TO MUCH FUN not to share.... The 30 minute activity and lesson that I am going to present while we are eating is all about the economics and creative ideas for school lunches from home. And I thought it would be fun to start the evening out having everyone find a friend and sharing or trading half of their sandwich with that friend.

Early Morning Surprise....

With this sleep pattern of resting around the clock, I found myself wide awake at 5:00 am this morning and of course the dog also decided that he to needed a potty stop. SO out we went and I noticed that there was a new flower in my garden and I couldn't wait for the sun to rise so that it would open up it's little sunny blossom.... Here is what I found at 7:30!

It's all about a Movie...

Last night, Marty came home early from work and surprised me with movie tickets to go see "Julie & Julia". It's an Awesomely Fun Movie! We then split a salad and some crab dip by the lake at Joe's Crab Shack. So it was a good day!

But it got me to thinking about food and how fun it would be to cook my way through Julia's Cookbook just like the girl in the movie did... What do you think? Anybody want to join me..... We could start our own blog about it!

I'm Back! ...... Did Y'all miss me?

I'm Back..... Our Tastefully Simple National Conference was Awesome. We had a great time and gained some fantastic ideas, inspirational words and personal challenges that would work both in our personal lives and our businesses. The Keynote speaker was KIM DUKE - author of "Tickled Pink", her presentation was not the best but she did share several good and valid points on how to be a better "SALES DIVA". My favorite was the Guest Entertainer MIKE RAYBURN... IF you ever get a chance to see him, he is wonderful! I came away from his presentation so pumped and jazzed not only about myself but about all the possibilities that I have around me. I felt so liberated like the statue of Mary Tyler Moore (in honor of her and the Mary Tyler Moore Show) that stands on the corner of 7th and Nicolette Mall...



Also, with great hesitation... I want to share with you that inspite of all the awesome and wonderful things that I was able to enjoy, I came home to total and complete bed rest for the next week or two, after experiencing another minor heart attack on Thursday evening while I was at conference. I also learned that my condition may be a genetic condition that gets worse as I age. IT SUCKS TO GET OLD!!!!! The reason I share this with all of you, is not for sympathy, but for your prayers... as I start down that path of medical testing (AGAIN), may the doctors finally figure out what is wrong with me and may it not be what or as bad as the doctors in Minnesota have lead us to believe.

SO... with all that in mind, I will have lots of time to SCRAP, STAMP & CHAT this week and I am looking forward to a great VSBN!

P.S. I will post more pictures when I get some done...

Leaving for Minnesota...

I leave early in the morning for the Tastefully Simple National Conference. I feel excited and yet apprehensive at the same time. I will be good to take a break and I have never been to Minneapolis, so as you all know I am always up for a new adventure...

Where did the summer go?

Summer here feels like it is coming to a close, the tomatoes have stopped blooming, the flowers are gaining their seed pods and even the air has that touch of fall early in the mornings, EXCEPT it is still really hot during the days here. Go Figure.... The boys say it is still rainy in New England and they haven't had much of a summer. So I am glad I am here where I can draw strength from the sun and the ocean waves. It has been a great summer of beach bliss!!!! I still feel like I am on the never ending vacation....